Broken
by YunaDax
Summary: A bad day for Rachel sets her thinking


Rachel Goldstein signed and she hunted for the first aid kit. It had been one of those days that every once in a while rears its ugly head and makes everyone feel like crap. The planning had been right... the execution of said planning had been right.. but still they had no suspects in the interview room. She finally found the first aid kit and hunted for some Vaseline to sooth her windburn lips and nose. Gez.. why today of all days, why did she get stuck on a wind blown beach in the middle of winter, looking for a suspect that never showed. One of these days she'd have the brains to quit such a silly job and take up accounting or something. Something where noone shot at you, where noone tried to lie to you all the time, and where you didn't have to rack your brains to try and out-think smart crims.   
*One of these days...* she thought. She didn't hear the footsteps approaching behind her and jumped when a voice startled her out of her reverie.   
" Oy Rach.hat ya doin hiding in the first aid cupboard?" Frank Holloway almost shouted. He loved it when he caught her out, hell she caught him out often enough.   
Rachel turned towards the voice, suddenly embarrased at being so obviously elsewhere. Franks' expression turned from one of glee to one of shock as he took in her features. Her hair was sticking out at wild angles, her cheeks were bright read from being bombarded with freezing sand all afternoon, and her lips and nose where horribly chapped.   
" Gez Rach. what'd ya do to yourself?"   
That was it, enough was enough, she'd had a bad enough day without Frank Holloway, Mr Gods' Gift to the World himself making it worse for her. Her emotions boiled over and her eyes drilled into his.   
" Piss off Frank! Leave me alone"   
" But Rach I...."   
" Bloody well PISS OFF!" she shouted at his face before turning and fleeing to the Ladies. She sobbed uncontrolably for several minutes before managing to pull herself together and analize the situation. It wasn't Frank's fault, he didn't know yet what went wrong down at the beach, he was covering for them at an old warehouse they'd been tipped off about, and run into the same 'no show' as she had. It wasn't his fault that she got stuck on a windy beach with the Mr Gods Other Gift To The World Jack Christy. Men.. why couldn't they just leave her alone. The door swung open and she knew without looking up that it was Helen. Helen had the knack of knowing when she was emotional, or when something was bothering her, either that or Helen heard her yelling at frank, hell half the station probably had.   
" Rachel, what's going on?" she asked gently, laying an hand on Rachel's still shuddering shoulder.   
" I dunno, I really don't know. I dunno if it was today, or its just Frank, or its PMS or gez I dunno whats wrong with me" Rachel sighed. Somehow talking to Helen always helped her see things more clearly, it always helped to put things into perspective.   
" Did things get out of hand down on the beach? Why didn't you report in? " Helen asked again, prying for more information.   
Rachel looked at the floor, the stark lino tiles did nothing to sooth her mind.   
" Maybe its Jack, he's trying it on me again and I can't handle it. Its like he's all charm and wonderful and nice and then he's all commitment and relationship and I don't think I'm ready for it again, not after Knocker. Its all just too much, and cos it was like freezing down there and he was trying to protect me and he can't seem to get it into his punny little head that I can look after myself! He just can't understand it.... Gez.. men.. you can't live with em, and ya can't live without em!"   
Helen nodded and smiled at the remark, tucking another morsel of gossip into the portion of her mind dedicated to helping her friends. She thought for a minute before mentally putting on her counselors hat and plonking on the floor beside Rachel.   
Half an hour later both women emerged, looking decidedly clamer and composed than when they had entered. Helen smiled at her before heading to Jeff's office while Rachel hestitatnly entered her own office. Frank looked up as she entered, trying to read her face to gauge what kind of cover he should take. She simply smiled at him and declared peace in her own special way   
" Hey Frank.. wanna go for a beer?"   
The End...   
So it sucked, I'm bored.. who cares!  



End file.
